Maria “The Aura” Kekana is an award winning multilingual poet, writer and multidisciplinary artist from Limpopo, South Africa. She is the 2026 first place winner of the Resounding Voices Poetry Slam, having placed second in 2024, and a Top 10 finalist in Poetry Africa’s 2026 Slam Jam Competition. Her poetry moves between English and Sepedi, exploring Black womanhood, identity, memory, healing and the complexities of being. A trained scriptwriter with an NQF Level 4 in Film and Television Production and an award in film writing, her creative practice extends into theatre, screenwriting and storytelling. She has developed a memoir exploring her journey as an artist and woman, and continues to build work across poetry, performance and film.
